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Re: How do the airlines expect to prevent commercial plane [#permalink]
23 May 2012, 19:19

IMO D seems the best. the conclusion is the last line of the para which says airlines should rethink its strategy. the premise for this is the previous line which says training cannot compensate for lack of actual flying time. essentially the author holds flying time to be most important.

Because basic rule to find assumption is without that conclusion cannot remain true. Now if Training program cannot eliminate pilot error then any kind of training program is unnecessary and that error includes lack of flying time also.

How do the airlines expect to prevent commercial plane crashes? Studies have shown that pilot error contributes to two-thirds of all such crashes. To address this problem, the airlines have upgraded their training programs by increasing the hours of classroom instruction and emphasizing communication skills in the cockpit. But it is unrealistic to expect such measures to compensate for pilotsâ€™ lack of actual flying time. Therefore, the airlines should rethink their training approach to reducing commercial crashes.Which one of the following is an assumption upon which the argument depends?(A) Training programs can eliminate pilot errors.(B) Commercial pilots routinely undergo additional training throughout their careers.(C) The number of airline crashes will decrease if pilot training programs focus on increasing actual flying time.(D) Lack of actual flying time is an important contributor to pilot error in commercial plane crashes.(E) Communication skills are not important to pilot training programs.

The current training approach = increasing the hours of classroom instruction and emphasizing communication skills in the cockpit

The airlines should rethink their approach to reducing commercial crashes.

In choice (C), if the pilot training programs focus on increasing actual flying time, BUT lack of classroom instruction and emphasizing communication skils? What happen? The number of crashes still does not decrease. In contrast, that number maybe increase. So, (C) cannot be the assumption of the argument. _________________

Initially I chose C. But after seeing the discussion here, I re-read the question and found that the keyword of the question lies in the first part of the stimulus. "How do the airlines EXPECT to prevent.."In option c, "will" changes the entire orientation of the option and makes it a definitely sure thing that is incorrect. _________________

(A) Training programs can eliminate pilot errors. - Incorrect because of "lack of actual flying time"(B) Commercial pilots routinely undergo additional training throughout their careers. - Irrelevant(C) The number of airline crashes will decrease if pilot training programs focus on increasing actual flying time. - Contender but it is not the assumption that the argument depends upon.(D) Lack of actual flying time is an important contributor to pilot error in commercial plane crashes. - Correct as it addresses the flying time and pilot error(E) Communication skills are not important to pilot training programs. - Irrelevant

(A) Training programs can eliminate pilot errors. - Lack of actual flying time will not compensate for training - Given in the argument - Incorrect(B) Commercial pilots routinely undergo additional training throughout their careers. - Irrelevant and out of scope - Incorrect(C) The number of airline crashes will decrease if pilot training programs focus on increasing actual flying time. - Too strong with the usage of word 'Will' - Incorrect(D) Lack of actual flying time is an important contributor to pilot error in commercial plane crashes. - Not too obvious and takes into account other factors as well - Correct(E) Communication skills are not important to pilot training programs. - Many factors are important and communication skills is one of them - Implied from the passage - Incorrect

What about LACK OF ACTUAL FLYING TIME? Can't Training be sufficient...The author seems to assume that this factor cannot be ignored.

(A) Training programs can eliminate pilot errors.This is opposite of the argument.

(B) Commercial pilots routinely undergo additional training throughout their careers.Okay? Has no bearing on the argument?

(C) The number of airline crashes will decrease if pilot training programs focus on increasing actual flying time.The argument assumes that flying time is an importan factor but actually decreasing it... we keep this for now...

(D) Lack of actual flying time is an important contributor to pilot error in commercial plane crashes.This is just enough. The tone is not as extreme as C but it just admits to importance of actual flying time..

Interesting question. The conclusion is deliberately written in a very vague way, and that is part of the challenge. What does "rethink their training approach" mean? The only interpretation that really makes sense, in light of the preceding statements, is that the author wants the airlines to include more actual flying time in their training. Given that interpretation, the missing assumption is fairly clear: If the airlines do NOT include more flying time in their training, then the incidence of airline crashes will NOT go down.

Once we recognize that this is the key assumption, it becomes even clearer why (D) is right and (C) is wrong. It is not merely that (C) is "too strong". It is more fundamental than that: The missing assumption is that if action A is not done, then result B will not happen. This is NEVER the same as (and NEVER proves that) if action A IS done, then result B will happen. So answer choice (C) is a trap for test takers who do not know that "IF A, then B" is totally different from "If not A, then not B" - or more likely, who do know this but don't notice that it is happening in this answer choice.

If you're not quite sure about the fact that we canNOT start from "if action A does not happen, then result B does not happen" and get to "if action A does happen, then result B does happen", consider these two statements:

If Fred doesn't work out at the gym, he will not become an Olympic weightlifting champion.

If Fred works out at the gym, he will become an Olympic weightlifting champion.

The first statement is probably true. But if it is, it does not prove that the second statement is. _________________

How do the airlines expect to prevent commercial plane crashes? Studies have shown that pilot error contributes to two-thirds of all such crashes. To address this problem, the airlines have upgraded their training programs by increasing the hours of classroom instruction and emphasizing communication skills in the cockpit. But it is unrealistic to expect such measures to compensate for pilotsâ€™ lack of actual flying time. Therefore, the airlines should rethink their training approach to reducing commercial crashes.

Which one of the following is an assumption upon which the argument depends?

(A) Training programs can eliminate pilot errors.(B) Commercial pilots routinely undergo additional training throughout their careers.(C) The number of airline crashes will decrease if pilot training programs focus on increasing actual flying time.(D) Lack of actual flying time is an important contributor to pilot error in commercial plane crashes.(E) Communication skills are not important to pilot training programs.

Well the argument states that :

Training approach (Increase in instruction hrs + CS in cockpit) for decreasing the crashes.However,this program will decrease the fly time of the pilots.

Conclusion: So , airlines will have to rethink the validity of their training program.

GAP:Lack of fly time induces error,although this doesn't mean that the increase in fly time reduces crashes.